Iowa Football Recruiting: Iowa Getting Warmer With Eno Benjamin

The Iowa football program has five total recruits committed in the Class of 2017. They’re hoping to get a commitment from Texas native, Eno Benjamin.

I’m just going to start it out by being realistic. The Iowa Hawkeyes are getting warmer with Benjamin, but a lot of other schools may have the upper hand here. The Hawkeyes are going to have to do some digging to draw Benjamin out of Texas and get him into the Black and Gold.

Benjamin is a four star running back in the class of 2017 out of Wylie, TX, according to 247 Sports. He is drawing interest from Texas Tech, Texas, Michigan, Iowa, and Houston, along with other teams. Right now, 247’s Crystal Ball is a 50-50 split between Texas and Texas Tech, but there is obviously still a lot of time left in his recruiting process. According to his Twitter page, he racked up over 3,000 all-purpose yards in his junior season and reached the end zone 45 times.

Jim Harbaugh has recently gotten in on the action and this seems to be huge. Benjamin is a long time Michigan fan and has posted several tweets of “the Big House” and of him sporting the maize and blue. This should be a little concerning for the other teams that are hoping to land the talented Benjamin.

Why not? 〽️ #GoBlue💙💛 pic.twitter.com/L4grlCb27k
— Eno Benjamin (@EnoB) February 18, 2016

In early March he’ll be going on a visit-spree. Starting March 8th, he’ll visit Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern, Iowa, and Kansas all on consecutive days. His visit in Iowa City will be on March 11th, which is a Friday. It could be a nice luxury that Iowa is one of the last schools he’ll visit during that time. That visit will be fresh in his mind and that could sway him a little.

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What surprised me most after watching his tape was; he’s a really good pass catcher. A lot of times with high school running backs you have a good runner, but their pass catching out of the backfield can be suspect at times. That is not the case with Benjamin. He gets split out wide several times, seems to have a good sense of how to run routes, and is fast so he has the ability to run by defenders.

In terms of running the ball, he doesn’t miss a beat there. He’s a very shifty runner and is good in the open field. He’s fast, but not blazing fast to the point where nobody can catch him, but if you are so lucky to catch him, good luck bringing him down. You can’t arm tackle him and at 5’10” 204 lbs, he’s low to the ground, so you will have trouble wrapping him up. He understands how to manipulate his blockers and let the play take shape before actually deciding where he’s going to go.

If I was a betting man, I’d be surprised if Charlie Strong lets him get out of Texas. And if he does get out of Texas, he’s probably headed to Ann Arbor. The Hawkeyes still remain major players if his visit – which is unofficial – on March 11th goes well, but they may have to do some major convincing to lure Eno up from Wylie.

Next: Hawkeyes Offer 2018 RB

Stay on the look out for more recruiting profiles from Dear Old Gold as Iowa’s 2017 class starts to take shape.